Mistral-Unable to decline CDW?

[llarsen]

Hello,

 

Our travel companions reserved a car for our day in Cannes from Mistral.

Mistral will not allow us to decline the CDW (they have full coverage and no deductible with their credit card company) Mistral has a 900.00 Euro deductible.

 

I thought I read somewhere that someone used their own insurance with Mistral? Does anyone have experience with them, I was wondering how to get around this?

 

They also have a 20% cancelation fee :-(

[Hlitner]

That is unfortunate, but we have had worse insurance issues when renting cars throughout Europe. I did take a look at the Mistral web site:

http://www.mistral-location.com/uk/car-rental-cannes-rent-low-cost-cheap-vehicle-hire-convertible-old-marina-port-cruise-ship-aida-norwegian-epic.html

 

and that does seem to indicate that you can decline their CDW...although the deductibles are quite high (1400 + Euros). We have run into this at other dealers and when we say we still do not want the excess coverage they will often insist that they will put a credit hold (for the entire deductible) on our credit cars. This gets me a big angry...but we do often tell them to "be my guest" as the card we normally use has no specific limit. I should add that even in the USA, some rental car agencies use a lot of arm twisting, fear tactics, and even bullying to try and get customers to buy excess insurance.

 

Hank

[LondonTowner]

Most European car hire companies will ask you to leave a deposit on your CC if you do not take out the extra insurance. It is generally around 600 Euros. Most reputable companies do not actually charge the amount to your CC, but some do. Once you have returned the car with no damage it will be refunded. On returning the car ensure it is checked over and signed off by one of their employees.

 

To get around the extra charges it is possible to buy an annual insurance cover specifically for car hire. It is particularly useful if you intend to travel and rent a car 3 or 4 times a year as it is cheaper than having to pay all the add ons car hire companies charge these days.

 

Most European car hire companies do not charge a cancellation fee if you advise them 24 hours in advance.

[llarsen]

Thanks so much!

 

I looked into car hire insurance and was able to buy a policy to cover the 900euro deductible that Mistral has with their CDW (which we could not decline)

 

We bought it through Questor just for the one day rental for something like 4.00 euro.

 

Mistral is conveniently located for the Cannes rental, but they have not been very helpful and have restrictions like: 20% cancelation fee-no exceptions, and the CDW with 900.00 deductible that you cannot decline.

 

Sixt in St Tropez on the other hand, has been outstanding with their customer service. They will even translate the contract in English at the rental counter. They also provided us with an invoice clearly outlining all charges. So far, I am very impressed with Sixt.